The Telegraph has an interesting article published yesterday by scholar Dominic Selwood, author of a 1999 academic study of the Knights Templar as well as a new novel about them, pondering why the medieval order of warrior monks has captured the modern imagination. His conclusions are more or less exactly what I’ve taken so much criticism for pointing out. Selwood, who holds a PhD in medieval religious warrior orders, sees in the Templars a convenient focus for two distinct threads of alternative thought, which are not completely severable.

The first is the claim that the Templars had “an alternate spirituality, perhaps even a slightly mystical one.” This is the Holy Bloodline, sacred feminine, Oreo cookie Jesus Tomb spirituality. This Selwood traces to a longstanding association between the Knights Templar and the supernatural born of the claims of heresy leveled against the order in 1314. The other thread I will let Selwood relate in his own words:

Darker interests focus on the Templars as the rallying point of a network of violent European white supremacism – a lodestar of racial hatred around which extremism can gravitate. The appeal of the Templars to extremists is probably inevitable.

Draw your own conclusions. Selwood also discusses a fascinating aspect of Templar culture about which I know nothing but which really ought to be showing up in crazy Templar conspiracy theories if the speculators did anything close to real research. According to Selwood, a Templar chapel called St. Christophe at Montsaunès, near the French border with Spain, contains astonishing frescos unlike anything else in medieval art. The walls and ceiling are covered in stars and solar wheels, reminiscent of cabbalistic designs, the Hermetic rites, or astrology.

The Templar chapel ceiling as seen in the Telegraph

What you are looking at above is the chapel’s interior crossing vault; it gives a slightly distorted impression of the rest of the ceiling, which is plainer, with a simple star pattern. The six-pointed stars are typical of how medieval artists drew stars. Note the moon at top center and the sun at bottom center (in real life the two sides of the hall just above eye level), suggesting that the central panel represents constellations of some type or the brightest visible stars. This Goolge+ photo album will give you a better sense of the ceiling. Selwood comments:

There is nothing remotely Christian about it. […] What did they [the symbols] mean to the Knights Templar? Why did they paint them so meticulously? And what prompted them to put them in their chapel, the building at the heart of their spiritual life, which they entered to pray in nine times a day?

Selwood has no answers, but I think he is exaggerating the difference between the chapel and other medieval art. And it’s rather disingenuous to claim that the ceiling is painted too well, as though neatness were suggestive of a hidden agenda. This isn’t Ancient Aliens! Some of the symbols bear a resemblance to Near Eastern iconography, and the star-spangled vault recalls the star-covered ceiling of Unas’ pyramid in Egypt, though obviously there is no direct connection. If I were pressed to guess, I would think that the designs were inspired by geometric Islamic mosque decoration. Standard texts on Islamic art state that ceiling beams found near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Knights Templar had their Holy Land headquarters, were decorated with six-pointed stars. Several of these beams can be seen in the Al-Aqsa museum today. They may have been used in an earlier phase of the Al-Aqsa mosque, or perhaps another Islamic building. As I understand it, they are different from the wooden beams currently claimed to be from the first or second Jewish Temple. Other medieval texts refer to ceilings, now lost or painted over, that contained a “panel of stars,” “the choir of stars,” or other astronomical symbolism, particularly in areas influenced by Islam, such as the Sicily of Roger II. Simon Cahn discusses them in Some Cosmological Imagery in the Decoration of the Ceiling of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, his doctoral dissertation. The floor of the Palatine Chapel, an Islamic-influenced medieval Christian church in Sicily, is covered in six-pointed stars much like the Templar chapel’s ceiling.Given that the St. Christophe chapel was built near what was then the mountainous pass to the Spanish border as part of the Reconquista effort, utilizing and adapting Islamic motifs and “re-Christianizing” them seems to be a decent explanation for what is going on here. It’s a fascinating ceiling that could support all sorts of crazy claim about the Templars and sacred astronomy, yet my review of the Templar conspiracy literature turns up nothing about the chapel. I am sure it will quickly take its place after appearing in the Telegraph. I’m always interested in seeing some historical oddity I’ve never seen before, and this ceiling is one of the more interesting puzzles I’ve come across recently. Better yet: It really exists and is actually a real Templar mystery!

I've wondered why so many are so fascinated, myself. Even I am drawn to the Religious Orders, though I find their reasoning and philosophy repugnant. Yet, here I am, reading "New Knighthood A History of the Order of the Temple"

For myself, a lot of my interest is simply from the fact that they were a standing, professional army in an age when that was not the norm. They were organized and very effective. Furthermore, I'm drawn to the Crusades simply because the idea of two ideologies clashing is fascinating. The exchange of goods and ideas that was part of this age is really interesting to me- where which culture won out within each. But I digress.

I think for most people it's the mystery. I am mostly interested in the Templars (and the Hospitallers/ Teutonic/ other Orders) for their military and logistical achievements. There are some good books on this, but mostly I find books that only touch on the subject. And THEN they launch into the mysteries. Judging by what people talk about, and what sells, people are mostly interested in the Grail and other mysteries of the Templars.

But I think there is more at work here. I think that the Templars are a perfect marriage of many things we find intriguing. They were a paradoxical order- killing in the name of their (otherwise peaceful) God. Everyone has some part of them that yearns for a higher purpose- and what purpose higher than God himself? And our inner, baser self wants some excuse to indulge in a little violence. I think that's the appeal of religious violence in general- we get to give in to our baser motivations, while telling ourselves it was for a higher cause- the highest in fact.

It's twisted in a way we, as people, hate that we love. This darkness, in my mind, creates an allure that the idea will always have. Add to that the idea of being an armored, unstoppale battlefield god, as well as the appeal of some mysterious discovery (possibly forbidden- so titillating!) and the knowledge that you are 100% right and your enemy is pure evil....you've got a recipe for intrigue.

I think the Templars are a dark chapter in history, one that appeals too our baser impulses. But that it has just enough of a white sheen of religion (no matter how misguided), romantic imagery/stories, and the innate appeal of at least trying to "fight the good fight" that we can satisfy those baser cravings without the guilt that might normally come from glorifying such horrifically twisted (even sick, in my opinion...but that just comes from my own religious beliefs) philosophy/thinking.

I think it flies under the radar to satisfy urges we aren't even realizing we are satisfying.

But that's just my opinion, and it certainly isn't a fact-based argument or anything. Just my own feelings on it all.

Reply

Steve

12/20/2013 02:27:12 pm

In a far-too-recent blog post, Jasson, the widely read blogger said, "…the few dozen people who regularly comment are only a fraction of the thousands who read the blog…"

In other words, a 'few dozen" people' regularly comment (I've counted about 12) and yet "thousands…read the blog."

(see deep into the comment thread on this link -
http://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2013/12/europe-unearthed-parody-secret-quetzalcoatl-bloodline-pineapple-cult-rules-europe.html#comments )

It depends on that the meaning of the word "regularly" IS.
(Why do I find it so easy to quote Bill Clinton here?)

Jason, I know your academic acolytes won't call you out on this. Much like a religion, they accept everything you say on face value. But, if you don't mind and don't consider it too much of an interruption from your regularly scheduled race-baiting, could you perhaps pull up your visitor statistics and discuss those for a brief minute?

Readers, we interrupt the regularly scheduled race-baiting for a brief message from our real and actual statistics.

You understand the jest of what I'm asking for, right Jsson, you legendary website host?
1. Admit that you have access to such statistics.
2. Show us the stats, Jason.

Dear blog readers, haters and Wolter fans alike, did you know Jason had access to such information? Oh yes. So, when he says, "…the few dozen people who regularly comment are only a fraction of the thousands who read the blog," he can be checked on this.

Jason-lovers, why am I the only one asking for such proof? Are you not truth seekers? Or are you mere acolytes, sucking on the tit of Jasonisms??

Now I know all you truth seekers (who also are vehement Wolter haters) want the real facts no matter where the cards may fall… actually, skip it. I'm a realist. Jason, I challenge you the facts. Man up and tell us what the deeper facts of your brag 'thousands who read the blog' really means. See the numbered list above - 1 - 6. And then, 1 & 2.

Thanks so much, Jason, you epic truth seeker you.

Reply

Clint Knapp

12/20/2013 04:09:36 pm

Of course we know he has access to those stats, Steve. This is the internet, afterall. Any half-formed Geocities site circa 1996 could acquire any and all of those stats and a number of others that you seem willfully ignorant of- not the least of which might be your personal IP address and actual physical location upon any given posting.

You ask why you're the only one asking for these stats? Simple. No one else cares. Don't you have some ground-breaking DNA research into who deserves to use your name to get back to?

Varika

12/20/2013 05:29:46 pm

Jason (not Jasson or Jsson) has mentioned having access to such stats before, including TO YOU, Steve Sinjerk, so why act like it's any kind of secret? EVERYBODY knows that the owners of a website have access to all the stats, unless they're complete tyros, anyway. Jason hasn't been making some big conspiracy out of it.

But why should he bother to post them? All you'll do is swear that he's making them up, anyway. You wouldn't know truth if it slapped you in the face, since it has and you amply demonstrate a complete ignorance of the fact. Every time you post, in fact.

Buzz off, you thread-hijacking wanna-be troll. Seriously. It's not even hard to be a troll, but you can't even get that right.

I personally have seen no hard physical evidence that Steve exists. Prove you exist, Steve! Prove that you aren't the product of a shadowy conspiracy to keep me from reading the comment section without random hijackings! WHAT ELSE ARE YOU AND YOUR LAPDOGS NOT TELLING US, "STEVE???"

I can't see, Steve, what I could possibly say that would satisfy your demand to change the subject to irrelevancies in order to obfuscate from the real issues. You throw spaghetti at the wall hoping something will stick and distract from actual, substantive issues.

If I were going to brag, wouldn't I claim *millions* of readers?

Although I'm sure you'll accuse me of making up the numbers, my website has between 10,000 and 25,000 unique daily visitors, most of whom visit irregularly, reading articles on topics of interest. Over the course of a month, I reach between 100,000 and 300,000 readers, though it varies greatly from month to month. Over the course of the year, as best I can tell, somewhere between 1 and 2 million unique readers worldwide came to my website, though obviously not all (or even a majority) are reading my blog, since I also have a wealth of other content. (This month, my page on "Ancient Alien Fraud" is inexplicably popular.)

Weebly, in fact, does not provide me with all of the data you claim to be sure it provides, only some of it, so my knowledge of the numbers is admittedly incomplete.

I do know that no one has ever come to my website after searching for information on Steve St. Clair. Currently "Great Wall of Texas" and "Scott Wolter" are the top search terms leading viewers to my site, followed by the "Stone of Destiny." The Great Wall search term and related terms led several thousand readers to my site.

Most readers come to my site from a search engine search, and interestingly international search engines make up almost 25% of traffic.

I guess that's what upsets people like you, Steve. Your audience finds my site organically, as a result of providing the kind of information they're looking for, not what fringe figures want to feed them. Hijacking my blog threads is an ineffective tactic, since the majority of people reading any given blog post won't have any idea what you're talking about or why you're so angry all the time. Most won't have read anything else.

Perhaps in the future you could try making arguments based on logos rather than pathos, logic rather than emotion.

Shane Sullivan

12/20/2013 06:38:50 am

"And it’s rather disingenuous to claim that the ceiling is painted too well, as though neatness were suggestive of a hidden agenda."

No, Selwood is totally right. When my brother went to art school, his professors always encouraged him to be as lazy as possible- to put absolutely no effort into anything he did, to take no pride in his work, make no attempt to present a finished work that in any way resembled his vision...actually, for his senior art show, they made him break his right hand just to ruin his technique.

Everybody in the art community knows that painting well is for posers and conspirators.

Reply

Curious

12/20/2013 07:18:21 am

Hold on, what about the Templars becoming infected with Islamic thought, haven't scholarly articles been written about that? Malcolm Barber posits strange stories associated with the Templars, like the story of the Lord of Sidon that dates from the period of the Templars.

Reply

Gunn

12/20/2013 08:46:46 am

I'm not endorsing the contents of this website, but it popped up when I googled about Templars and stars on ceilings. So, maybe the stars have something to do with a future axis shift that Templars WERE and some Freemasons ARE aware of. HHmmm...is the Masonic One-Government World Conspiracy upon us, after all? And will we be helped, or hurt? Stay tuned in, to the sky....

http://www.mythomorph.com/wp/rosslyn-chapels-darkest-secret/

"Marcus Vitruvius Pollio decreed, in the 1st century BC, that great buildings should be built with the proportions of nature in mind. It is therefore not surprising that the ideal proportions of a human body would be incorporated into Rosslyn’s ceiling. What is surprising, however, is that the flaw in the order of the star course in Rosslyn’s ceiling would hint that civilization, as stated by Plato, is periodically destroyed by a cyclical cataclysm, and that the 23.5-degree angle found between the arms of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man would hint at the very same thing."

Reply

Gunn

12/20/2013 11:19:22 am

"...utilizing and adapting Islamic motifs and “re-Christianizing” them seems to be a decent explanation for what is going on here."

Funny you would say that, because you can see a Templar cross within a circle at the bottom. Now, if you notice, two of the circles have designs which, if completed in the same manner as the one on the bottom, would make three Templar crosses. Did the now easily-recognizable Templar cross (this particular design, among others) originate from within an Arab design? If some of the other designs are shown to be of Arab origin, then I suppose this is possible.

Selwood says: "There is nothing remotely Christian about it." I guess I would have to disagree, based on seeing at least one clearly defined Templar cross.

Just at note: We see a starry ceiling in Rosslyn Chapel, too, which chapel some see as connected to a post-Templar situation...involving...Sinclairs.

Just rabble-rousing. Any rabble around?

Reply

Uncle Ron

12/20/2013 03:00:55 pm

Any kid who ever goofed around with a compass (the drawing kind) quickly discovered how to create all those designs including a "Templar cross". It doesn't require esoteric knowledge to draw pretty geometric doodles.

Rosslyn Templar Myth

12/20/2013 07:45:11 pm

Jeff Nisbet is as clear cut an example of an uncritical mythmaker you can possibly find

Reply

An Over-Educated Grunt

12/20/2013 10:45:49 am

Wasn't the origin of the Star Chamber a chamber at one of the English royal residences (want to say Westminster, but I'm handicapped by posting from my phone, multitasking is a pain) painted up with an astronomical theme? Not dating it's contemporary, just pointing out that starry ceilings aren't unheard of in Europe, and for that matter it could just as easily be a stationary planetarium display to teach astronomy in daylight hours.

Reply

Rosslyn Templar Myth

12/20/2013 07:51:42 pm

John Southerden Burn, "The Star Chamber: Notices of the Court and Its Proceedings; with a Few Additional Notes of the High Commission" (1870)

PDF Download
https://archive.org/details/starchambernoti01burngoog

Reply

Lurkster

12/23/2013 04:15:19 am

Selwood's remarks about the symbolism in the chapel at Montsaunès are not all that new. If anything, it is rather weak. Jan Wicherink's research on Gothic Chapels in France featuring astrology-based themes is much extensive.

However, her work needs taken with several grains of salt since she is squarely in the Templar spirituality fandom camp that Selwood makes passing mention to in a polite fashion that I find refreshingly woo-free.